The Panda Lily
by Sonny Bunny
Summary: One-shot. After finding the panda lily Aang searches for Katara in the fortuneteller's village, ready to tell her of his feelings.


**A/N: Hello, Sonny Bunny here! I'm just continuing to upload some of my old works. I'm also known as NoaangFan and FateBender on Avatar forums. Just a note for this one-shot I use some elements from The Last Airbender movie in this story such as the bowing, Gyatso's necklace...also the whole volcano thing in The Fortuneteller..let's just pretend that didn't happen.**

**DC: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or M. Night's The Last Airbender.**

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This was it. Aang was finally going to tell Katara how he felt. He had the adrenaline, he had his heart on his sleeve, he had the flower—the panda lily. He just didn't have the words.

"Katara, I picked this flower for you…I hope you like it," Aang paused and shook his, "no, that's stupid." Aang would occasionally stop and pretend like he was handing the flower over to Katara as he walked through the village of the fortuneteller. "Katara, I picked this flower for you cause it's kinda white like snow," he groaned at the stupidity laced in those words. "Katara, I like you but not like normal _like_, more like Appa is doing flips in my stomach _like. _Katara, you leave me breathless. Katara, I picked this flower for you….," he smacked his palm against his forehand, leaving a red imprint on his skin,"…and I'm a pathetic bumbling loser."

What was he going say? What if she didn't like flowers? What was he thinking, of course all girls like flowers! That's the whole reason he got the flower! He had seen all these guys giving girls flowers and they sure seemed to like them. Aang halted in this tracks as a terrifying thought hit him. Who cares if she doesn't like flowers…what if she didn't like _him_?

Well, she did occasionally hug him…but did that mean she _liked_ him? He was decent looking, wasn't he? Okay, so he didn't have hair and she was _taller_ than him—boy did he ever pray for a growth spurt! But they did get along, and she seemed to like his company. And that fortuneteller did say she would marry a powerful bender one day. He was the freaking avatar! Who's more powerful than the avatar—no one that's who!

Aang walked with new determination in each step making the grass beneath his feet rustle, and the panda lily clutched at his side swing with rapture. The scent of it took off into the air, bringing a smile to his face.

He couldn't wait to tell her. He was almost there; he had spoken with Sokka earlier and he had told him Katara was near the center of the village. He couldn't wait to see her face. He had never felt this way before, sure he had interacted with girls before but he never felt this nervous. He really didn't know how to explain it. He glanced down at his glider in his hand. It was like, if he wasn't an airbender, one look from her could make him fly anyway.

But soon something had him crashing back down to earth. Aang stopped at the corner of a house, and standing a couple of feet away from him was Katara—blushing and giggling at a teenage boy. The boy was showing off his earthbending skills to her and she seemed _interested_.

Aang's fingernails dug into the paint as he held onto the corner of the house, he stood there unnoticed by the two, as a lump constricted his throat and the panda lily in his right hand twitched from the agony compressed in his grip.

She never even _looked_ when he tried to show her something.

The boy's bangs fell into his face, he run his hand through his hair pushing it back, making her blush more.

Aang tentatively reached up to run a hand over his smooth bald head, then his shoulders slumped forward.

Katara had to look up to see what the boy was saying.

He always had to look _up_ at her.

The boy seemed to make a joke, and her face glowed.

Maybe….the fortuneteller meant a powerful _earthbender_.

He _had_ to get out of there—he was going to be sick.

Aang walked with no certainty to where he was going, he just walked—or more like scuffed. With each step his shoes dug into the ground, bringing up fresh dirt and grass. For an airbender he wasn't so light on his feet. If only Gyatso could see him now.

Aang's eyes widened and his hand automatically reached for his air nomad necklace he had made for Gyasto. And then he realized the hand that was clutching the necklace was also clutching something else—the panda lily. He hadn't realized he was still holding it. Aang raised the flower to his eye level, he watched the petals flutter against the light breeze, he smelt the scent of the flower—oh, how bittersweet it was now.

He looked out before him to find himself standing on a cliff. He always liked being up high, with the wind rustling against the fabric of his hood, the scents of nature surrounding him, and just the open sky with no boundaries, just an overwhelming sense of freedom. It always cheered him up—but not today.

He glanced back to see the village in the distance and then he looked over the cliff to see scattered trees below. He looked once more at the panda lily, and the cursed scent entered his nose again.

Aang couldn't stand it any longer, it was like it was mocking him—about what _could_ have been or maybe what _never_ was or would _ever_ be. With an outstretched hand he decided its fate and dropped it over the cliff.

And then, Aang didn't know what was going through this mind—maybe nothing at all. Because in that next instant he dove over the cliff with his unopened glider in his hand—free-falling with his back towards the impending earth.

If he didn't open his glider soon, his back would plummet into the ground, probably shattering every bone in his vertebra sending a shock wave of pain through his body. Maybe one of his ribs would puncture his lungs making every breath like shards of glass ripping down his throat—not that, that would hurt more than he was already feeling. As far as Aang was concerned he had hit the ground fifteen minutes ago. No, the pain wouldn't be any different from what he was feeling now. Of course, that was if he survived the fall.

This was it. He either opened his gilder soon, or not at all. He began to feel numb to everything around him. The thunderous sound of air rushing pass as he descended quicker, the thrashing of his heart in his chest, and the voice in his mind screaming," FLY! FLY! FLY!" He was deaf to them all.

But then, that scent, that wonderful, _horrible _scent entered his nose. He looked to his left in his free-falling world to see he was falling in sync with the panda lily.

And that woke him up.

Aang quickly opened his glider and maneuvered himself down to the ground the way only a master airbender could. He stood there with only the sound of the crinkling leaves beneath his feet and his labored breath. And then he saw it a couple of feet away from him. Something white and black resting in the blades of grass—the panda lily. He walked slowly up to it, picking it up, he stared at it in disbelief. After the aftershock had faded away, he took a look around at his surrounds.

It was a peaceful place, with only the sound of the blades of grass and leaves waltzing to the whisper of Mother Nature's breath. Aang tilted his head back to look at the cliff he had fallen from—that had been a long drop. He then gazed to his right, and what he saw left him breathless.

It was a tree, an enormous tree that looked like it belonged in the world of the sprits more than the human world. Its trunk was twisted like a chestnut braid and the leaves upon its branches were a light cranberry color that reflected the sun rays like crystals. It was then he was stuck with an idea.

It didn't take him long to find what he needed—two sturdy twigs and some long blades of grass. Using the grass he secured the two twigs together into a cross like shape. He jammed it into the soil a couple of inches away from the base of the tree.

Aang fingered with the air nomad necklace around his neck, feeling the cool, curved shape of it, and then he took it off. His trembling hands placed the necklace over the crossed twigs, it stayed it place dangling there. With the panda lily in hand, he placed it there to rest.

Then Aang did something he wished he had done a hundred years ago, he kneeled to the ground, his face a couple inches from the ground—and he bowed.

In that moment, in that one fluid motion, is was like a river of emotions went loose raiding through his body, and he sobbed. He sobbed for the heartbreak of never having Katara, for the people he let down, for Gyatso who he would never see again, for the weight upon his shoulders as the avatar, but most of all he sobbed for the loneliness he felt deep within his soul.

Aang's throat ached, as the salt from his tears drained down the back. "I'm so sorry," he choked out. "I'm so sorry Gyatso!" Tremors racked through his body, his hands tensed against the dirt. "I feel so alone. I can't do this... I can't do this." And he wept until he was exhausted.

Aang finally managed to get back to the village, the one he so desperately wished to escape from earlier and still did to an extent, and who should be the first face he sees, but…Katara.

Her hair thrashed side to side behind her as she rushed up to him and in one single movement threw her arms around him. It was his salvation and obliteration at the same time…and she didn't even know…probably never would.

"Aang, where have you been?" she asked while hugging him. "I've been so worried, you've been gone for a while."

"I didn't think you would notice," Aang said suddenly feeling very annoyed with her.

"Of course I did! You shouldn't go out alone so late! What if something happened to you?" she said.

"You mean, what if something happened to the Avatar."

Katara suddenly seemed to notice that Aang wasn't hugging her back, and the stiffness of his body as she held onto him. "Aang?" she said hesitantly. "That's not true. I care about you."

"You…do?" he said, taken aback by the genuineness in her voice.

"Yeah."

Aang stood there feeling foolish and selfish, two things he had been feeling often since the day he returned. Katara couldn't force herself to like him, and he wouldn't want that. It still hurt, no doubt. But he would always care for her and be her friend whenever she needed him.

He only hoped he didn't go into the avatar state when he met this "powerful bender" of hers.

Katara pulled away from the hug, and when she did he caught a whiff of something. It was something he hadn't fully noticed before. "You smell like…._panda lily_," he said flabbergasted.

"Oh, is that what this scent is called?" Katara said. "Yeah, the fortuneteller gave me some hand cream when we arrived here, I've been wearing it ever since. She said….," she paused looking unsure if she wished to share with him,"….she said it would become my husband's favorite scent." She then turned completely red in the face. "It's silly, isn't it?" she said nervously laughing, at the idea and herself.

Aang just stared at her like she had just told him Zuko was his great grandson.

Finally he was able to utter," Yeah…_silly_."

Katara's shoulders slumped forward, she looked at the ground with her downcast eyes," Oh," she said disheartened.

"But….," he blurted out before he could stop himself. Katara raised her eyes again to look at him waiting for him to continue. "I think…you should wear it anyway."

Just like he survived the fall off the cliff, maybe he would survive the fall of falling in love.

_The End_

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**Please review! I hope you have a Sonny day!**


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